Best Software

I am new to computer aided song writing. After many hourse of research, I am confused by the number of programs available. In your opinion, what is the best software out there to compose with. I also enjoy creating arrangments for concert bands and wold need to be able to manage multiple staffs in different keys???

If you think your focus is writing sheet music. I would highly recommend Sibelius
It has good documentation and many nice features. You can get a free demo of the product at www.sibelius.com. It handles mutiple instruments and selects the appropiate staff or staffs for each instrument automatically. Many instruments are predefined and you can define you own. You can give any staff any key signature you want even change key in the same staff. Think of it as a wordprocessing program for sheet music, or prehaps desktop sheet music publishing is a better analogy. One feature I don't believe is in the competitors product is that time signature is forced for each measure. For example if you have 2/2 time you cannot insert a whole note into the measure. All rests and notes in a measure always add up to the time signature because the program will not let you enter it otherwise. (You can of course change the time signature for any measure if you need to. ) You can make stylistic chocies and publication rules that further enhance readablity and clarity. Sibelius' documentation claims that it is extremely fast when inserting new phrases into an existing work. No matter how long the piece is it is always just as fast. I haven't yet been able to test them on this claim yet, but I have no reason to doubt it. I am using the Mac version of Siblelius (the PC version is in the same box). It is an extreemly well written program, one of the best I've seen in a long time.

I have gone the gamut from Emagic Logic to various others, and if I were just starting out I would like something relatively simple but powerful and inexpensive, and that would be a program called, "MasterTracks". It is also the software I use for live midi playback with my midi duo.